Is WGN's Outsiders Mirroring the Current U.S. Political Climate or Vice Versa?

The struggle for power and control continues as Season 2 of Outsiders returns for another explosive season on WGN America, January 24 at 9/8c. The cast and creators of the series took the stage at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour today and made political comparisons to the series’ fictional storyline, including the idea of building a wall.

Producers said a large story point coming up is centered around the town deciding to constrict the Farrell clan by building a wall around the mountain—an idea, executive producer Peter Tolan said, was thought of a “month before it was even talked about in our political world.”

Equally comparable to today’s headlines is the actual heart of the series—a story that follows a disenfranchised, rural Appalachian community that is angry at the Farrells (an extended family who has lived off the grid by their own rules and rituals, who have even less money than they do) and are now at war with them. Benefiting from this war are some corporate billionaires, creator Peter Mattei adds, which is “a decent metaphor for the whole country right now.”

A fictional problem, however, that will last longer than a four-year term, if producers have their way. Mattei says, “It’s going to take at least 12 seasons to get the Farrell clan off the mountain.”